Although the cessio did not exist as a separate institution in Roman private law, it began to develop in practice from the old civil law, and its effects were realized in proceedings such as in iure cessio and cessio bonorum. After dealing with the latter procedures which represented universal succession, it is further analysed how the Romans tried in practice to find a way to achieve an individual transfer of claim; the first such way was a novation (novatio) based on active delegation. Due to its shortcomings, next, the effects of the cession were sought to be realized on the basis of the mandate for representation in the procedure before the court, and due to the uncertainty of the given mandate, the development of institute went further in the direction of giving the assignee an actio utilis and by introducing the denuntiatio, which in its essence has remained until today. After a more detailed insight into the sources from classical law, there is also a review of postclassical changes, made in first place by passing laws with purpose to repress misuses, the most significant of which was the Lex Anastasiana. In modern Croatian law, which is examined in the other part, the institution of cession is regulated in the Obligations Act (2005) as a change on the part of the subjects of the obligatory relationship. The legal regulation, apart from general provisions, includes mutual relations between subjects and special cases of cession, whereby the author has also presented the cases from judicial practice which show the permanence of Roman legal tradition with regard to the cession even today.